TOLOnews.com: A young woman was decapitated by her fiancé, a member of the local Public Protection Force, in Feroza district of Herat province on Saturday. Police officials said the man has already been arrested, and the victim's family have called for justice. Full news...

TOLOnews.com: The victim of sexual abuse, who was raped by a local mullah in northern Takhar province eight months back, was threatened to not speak, is now eight months pregnant. The 13-year-old victim who does not want to be named, was sent to her local mosque by her family to receive an education in religious studies by the 35 year old mullah who raped her, warning her not her to raise her voice and informing her family of the crime. Full news...

PAN: Officials in western Herat province said that 448 cases of violence against women had been registered with 34 women lost their lives during the past nine months. Efforts by international and locals’ organizations had been intensified to eliminate violence against women in Afghanistan, but the menace against women continued. Full news...

TOLOnews.com: Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) on Monday announced that more than 4,250 cases of violence against women have been recorded in the past nine months. A number of analysts have said that the main factor behind the growing issue of violence against women is the non-implementation of law. Full news...

TOLOnews.com: A 10-year-old girl from northern Balkh province has been forced to marry a boy whose sister eloped with the girl’s uncle, a decision by tribal elders as part of an old tradition called “Baad” aimed at settling disputes between the parties in conflict. In another case of violence against women in Herat, a man sliced his wife’s neck leaving her to die, according to the police. Full news...

TOLOnews.com: An eight-month pregnant mother lost her child after she was severely beaten by a Mullah who believed to be an exorcist in Chahar Dara district of Kunduz. The newly-wed woman, who requested her name not be revealed, said the Mullah named Dost Mohammad claimed that she was possessed after her husband’s family took her to him for a ritual treatment, when all she was suffering from was low blood pressure. Full news...

PAN: A heavily pregnant woman, a policeman’s wife, was gang-raped by five men in northwestern Jawzjan province, an official said on Monday, as the victim threatened to commit suicide. A relative of the 17-year-old woman told Pajhwok Afghan News she was only a month away from giving birth when five men rapped her last night in Shiberghan, the provincial capital. Full news...

Khaama Press: A woman was killed by her husband in central Logar province late on Wednesday night, local officials said Thursday. The main reason behind the murder of the woman is not clear so far, but the provincial human rights officials are saying that the woman is apparently murdered due to domestic violence. Full news...

PAN: A pregnant girl, whose face was badly burnt by acid, has been found dead in the southern province of Helmand, an official said on Monday. Police spokesman Maj. Farid Ahmad Obaid told Pajhwok Afghan News the body was recovered a ruined house in Bashran area late on Sunday. The victim’s identity is yet to be established. The Bost Civil Hospital director said the victim was 17 years old and was pregnant. Full news...

PAN: Two women have been found dead in the Shirin Tagab district of northwestern Faryab province, an official said on Wednesday. District chief Syed Luqman Kharik told Pajhwok Afghan News unidentified gunman killed the two women in their house located in Sayyad area. He said the slain women were mother, 50, and daughter, 20. The reason of their killing is said to be a family dispute, he added. Full news...

RT: An Afghan mother, enraged by the Taliban’s fatal shooting of her policeman son, has allegedly helped to kill 25 militants. She rushed to a police outpost near her home upon hearing gunfire, before her adrenalin took over and she “began to shoot back.” The incident happened early in the morning on November 17 in the Balabolok district, in the Farah province of western Afghanistan, near the border with Iran. Full news...

PAN: Two women have been killed in northern Faryab province, increasing the number of females killed in the province this solar year to 18. Faryab crime branch police chief Col. Sarbeland Hasham told Pajhwok Afghan News a 37-year-old woman had been shot to death with a pistol in the Pashtunkot district. Full news...

Khaama Press: The family of a gang-rape victim has called on President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani to ensure the perpetrators are tried as they face death threats from the armed gang. The woman was gang-raped a group of eight men in northeastern Badakhshan province of Afghanistan five years ago, Tolo News reported on Monday. Full news...

PAN: The Ministry of Information and Culture on Monday asked all TV channels to avoid running commercial advertisements featuring female models. In a statement, the ministry said women’s position and status was being misused in such ads aimed at enticing costumers. All media outlets were asked to avoid airing commercials that featured women. Full news...

IWPR: Rights groups in central Afghanistan have raised concerns about a rising tide of violence against women in this part of the country. About 100 people, mainly women, met in the town of Bamyan on September 28 to quiz local officials and rights organisations on what action they were taking against a rising tide of violence against women in this part of Afghanistan. Full news...

Khaama Press: An Afghan woman named Zahra ran away with a young man after her father forced her to marry a 65-year-old villager. She and her lover were caught after almost two years and both were jailed for adultery. Adultery is prohibited in Islam and Afghanistan is a country with 99% people. Full news...

The Killid Group: A non-governmental group, New Afghanistan Women Association (NAWA), says crimes against women and children have increased because of continued official indifference and a law enforcement system that looks the other way to help the perpetrators. NAWA’s new research in six provinces – Kunduz, Jowzjan, Herat, Balkh, Takhar and Sar-i-Pul – shows a 30 percent increase in rape cases. Shafiqa Habibi, director of the non-governmental women’s group, says in most cases the abusers were “powerful individuals, commanders and irresponsible gunmen” or the relatives of the victims. “They don’t fear punishment.” Full news...

NPR: No country grows as many opium poppies or produces as much illicit opium as Afghanistan. In 2013, opium production soared to a record high of 5,500 tons, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. A study published last week adds to a growing body of research showing that Afghanistan also has a high rate of drug usage — about 5.1 percent, or 1 in 20 people. Opioids and cannabis were the most popular. Full news...

Human Rights Watch: An Afghan court’s conviction of seven men for a gang rape was wholly undermined by numerous due process violations and political interference, Human Rights Watch said today. The court of appeals should competently, impartially, and independently conduct judicial review of the September 6, 2014 trial and the resulting death sentences. Full news...

The Wall Street Journal: News of a gang rape rattled the Afghan capital, stirring fears of a return to lawlessness amid a prolonged political crisis that is threatening to plunge the country into civil war. Afghan police said this week they arrested six men in connection with the rape, which took place in the early-morning hours of Aug. 23. Full news...

Khaama Press: At least six women were killed in single day in western Afghanistan as violence as against women soars. Local officials in Herat province have said at least five of women were killed in this province by relatives and unknown gunmen. Full news...

PAN: A man stoned his wife to death on Saturday in the western Herat province for having an alleged extramarital affair, an official said. Col. Abdul Rauf Ahmadi, spokesman for the provincial police, told Pajhwok Afghan News the incident took place this noon in the Nawak area of Kohistan district. Full news...

The New York Times: It was bad enough that the alleged rape took place in the sanctity of a mosque, and that the accused man was a mullah who invoked the familiar defense that it had been consensual sex. But the victim was only 10 years old. And there was more: The authorities said her family members openly planned to carry out an “honor killing” in the case — against the young girl. The mullah offered to marry his victim instead. Full news...

PAN: In a tragic tale, tribal law lessens the emotional blow to a family selling its daughters out of financial desperation. Yet the sanctioned sale of girls in traditional communities highlights how girls and women are still regarded as commodities in Afghanistan. Full news...

Human Rights Watch: The government of Afghanistan should adopt recommendations from United Nations member countries to abolish prosecution of women for so-called “moral crimes.” Afghanistan rejected the recommendations in its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Outcome Report issued on June 16, 2014 at the UN Human Rights Council. Other issues addressed include the death penalty, anti-gay discrimination, and impunity. Full news...

PAN: A woman was beaten to death by her spouse in western Herat province and another was gunned down by unidentified assailants in northern Faryab province, officials said on Wednesday. The murder in Herat took place in Safarabad area of Karkh district on Wednesday, the governor’s spokesman, Ihsanullah Hayat, told Pajhwok Afghan News. Full news...

PAN: A large number of weeping women on Wednesday staged a protest rally in northern Faryab province, accusing a local commander of sexually abusing and murdering young girls and children during a bloody clash with civilians. Nearly 100 women, accompanied by children, from Pashtun Kot district arrived in Maimana, the provincial capital, and assembled in front of the governor’s house. Full news...

PAN: A young woman has been shot dead by unidentified gunmen after she eloped in northern Baghlan province, an official said Sunday. Amina 21 was eloped as she was unhappy with her husband. Unidentified gunmen forced her into the car and shot her dead in Kotal-i-Shahidan locality on the outskirts of Talau Barfak district last night, the district chief said. Full news...

PAN: A woman has been found stabbed to death multiple-times and her body’s parts, including lips, cut off allegedly by a brother-in-law in northwestern Jawzjan province, police said on Thursday. The victim, a 23-year-old mother of two children, was mercilessly killed on Wednesday night in Shiberghan, the provincial capital, police chief Col. Syed Zamanuddin Hussaini told Pajhwok Afghan News. Full news...

PBS NewsHour: A young Afghan woman named Soheila ran away with a man after her father forced her to marry a 70-year-old. She and her lover were caught after three years and both were jailed for adultery. Soheila tells her story in the documentary “To Kill a Sparrow,” produced by the Center for Investigative Reporting. The PBS NewsHour will air an excerpt on Friday. Full news...

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